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Paul and Penny have lived on an exclusive estate in south London for 17 years. They’ve hardly touched the interior of their “40s box”, as Kevin McCloud calls it, believing that, once the time was right, they would knock it down and build something splendid in its place.

And that time has come. Their house is demolished and, with a budget of £1 million, Paul and Penny’s dreams of a huge, modern property start to take shape. But they hit problems immediately and the budget rockets. Worse, a bank that had backed the project gets very nervous.

The finished product looks rather like a lovely sports centre and it echoes. But look - there’s a place for warming coffee cups!

About this programme

2/12. Kevin McCloud meets Paul and Penny Denby, who are demolishing their mock-Georgian home on an exclusive south London estate to replace it with a contemporary mansion. The couple have little building experience and struggle with the dozens of design decisions they must make, and find themselves £250,000 short of the amount needed to finish the property.